I am a wife to an engineer who wishes he was a carpenter and a mother to three children. I love things like little girls in pink dresses with lots of tulle, Jesus because He loved me first, little boys in baseball caps, scripture verses that I am pretty sure were written just for me, a cup of coffee with hazelnut creamer, my satisfied soul during worship at our church, watching my husband draw out something really cool that he will soon build for me, a newly renovated room, candles, buying discounted furniture for rooms that only exist in my head, my cell phone, Aaron Shust music, Jimmy Buffett music (without the occasional bad word), and the movie You've Got Mail.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

One of my favorite places on this planet of ours is the design studio where I have done my decorative finish training. It is simply gorgeous! Every time I walk through the doors, my hands immediately go to the walls and my brain starts working on overload. It is almost too much to take in. So many wall finishes, so many cabinet finishes...so little time! If I could choose any profession to pour myself into, it would be a decorative artisan. It is the reason I subscribe to far too many magazines like Veranda, I seek out the walls in every magazine I open. Have you seen the cover of the newest Ballard Designs catalog? All of Suzanne Kasler's designs fall on the backdrop of gorgeous wall finishes. I love the big scale concept of art that comes with creating decorative finishes. Details are too tedious for me, and though I love a smaller scale art project here and there, by far my favorite art form is creating art on walls.

Last week I was able to return to Faux Works for more training. It always kind of feels like I am returning home after being away for a long time. I love spending time here, and I thought you might enjoy a few pictures of Barb Skivington's studio:

Decorative finish sample boards are notorious for photographing poorly. You loose all detail in a photograph, and you cannot appreciate one of the best parts of a decorative finish: the texture. But nonetheless, here are few samples.

I love this quote, and any artist of any kind knows exactly what he means:

Chalk paint, have you heard of it? I think it going to be my new best friend for furniture.

And here is my new favorite lovely. This is probably the most beautiful finish I have ever seen. It is formal and elegant, yet weathered and aged, all at the same time. The photograph does not do it justice. It is a stop you in your tracks kind of lovely, and my foyer is about to get a makeover.

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comments:

This is so cool!!!! My undergrad degree is in Theatre Design and we had to paint large scale faux finishes for sets. You would have loved it. Unfortunately, I threw away all my boards. I wish we had a studio like this in Tulsa. I would be there every weekend. You're a lucky woman, I will live vicariously through you! :)

Hi Amy, I love all those decorative wall treatments and would love to do something like that in my house but it wouldn't look good since our ceilings are so low. I think you need high ceilings for it to really make an impact. I do have a question for you, when you were remodeling your home did you run into any problems with asbestos or lead paint? If so, what did you do about it? We are trying to determine if we should remodel our home and this would be an issue for us. Thanks, love your blog

Dear Amy, I wanted to give a virtual award to you and your site for it is/you are just lovely! *hands you a pretty pink crown and a bouquet of pink roses to wear and carry for the days you forget how wonderful you are! I always find myself coming back to visit when I can! ;) Your themes, and the style that you have found truly shines so well from your heart, and is such a blessing to us all! Thank you for being so open-hearted, and sharing much beauty as you play sublimely with the King! ;) I wish you many peaceful blessings and plenty more creative moments!, Jenn